Fuel weekly preview

After another three-win weekend, a 6-game winning streak and an 8-game unbeaten streak, the Indy Fuel are in a great position, with three more home games this week, all against East Division foes. It’s a great opportunity to keep rolling and build momentum going into a February chock-full of division games.

Last week: The Fuel had a 3-0-0 weekend and continued a six-game winning streak. They pasted the team with the league’s best record, the Allen Americans, 4-1 on Friday. Then, they knocked off Evansville by a 4-1 score on Saturday in Indy before an OT win in Evansville by a 2-1 count on Sunday. … On the weekend, Kyle Stroh had the team’s first-ever hat trick on Saturday, and scored his 6th game-winning goal on Sunday, which was also the first-ever OT winner for the Fuel. He had a 4-1-5 line in the three games. Garett Bembridge also tallied points in the three games and was 2-2-4. Mike Duco had a goal and two assists, as did Rhett Bly. Dillon Fournier and Justin Holl had two assists each. In scoring 10 goals, 14 different Fuel skaters (and one goalie) got on the scoresheet. … Mac Carruth had the first goalie point of the year with an assist on Mike Duco’s empty-netter on Saturday night. Carruth nearly scored a goal, too. He was named the ECHL’s Goaltender of the Week on Tuesday. … The line of Stroh-Bembridge-Vincent Arseneau had seven of the Fuel’s 10 goals on the weekend. … Mac Carruth won back-to-back games and Shane Owen won Sunday’s game, with each allowing just one GA in each game.

Fuel bits: Several streaks are active right now for the team – six straight wins, eight games without a regulation loss (7-0-1), eight games allowing two goals or less in regulation, five games allowing one goal or less total … The winning streak and road winning streak (4 games) are both the second-longest active ones in the ECHL to Colorado (10/5, respectively) … Mac Carruth has won five straight starts and has a 0.98 GAA and a .965 save percentage in those games. Shane Owen is 2-0-1 in his last three starts with a 1.30 GAA and .956 save percentage … Stroh now has six goals and six assists in the last seven games, and is +9 in those contests. He has a seven-game scoring streak going. That point streak is the fifth-longest active streak in the ECHL … Stroh has 12 points in 10 games since joining the Fuel (6-6-12) after tallying 14 points in 32 games with Rapid City … Bembridge has a four-game scoring streak going and has taken over the team lead in goals (15) and points (30). With the Fuel, he has a 13-11-24 line in 31 games. … Mike Duco also has a three-game scoring streak going, and with his 10th goal, became the third player currently on the roster to score 10 with the Fuel this season … Dillon Fournier’s two-assist game Sunday was his first multi-point game of the season … Stroh has six game-winners, making him second in the league. He had the GWG in each of the last two games … Mac Carruth’s recent hot streak has moved him to 17th in the ECHL in GAA (2.69) and 16th in save percentage (.905). … Matt White’s 2 SHG place him second among ECHL rookies … Nick Bruneteau (3-19-22) is tied for 16th among ECHL defensemen in points and ninth in assists … The Fuel remain the fifth-least penalized team in the league (14.33 PIM/game) … In a Fuel uniform, Indy has four active 20-point players: Bembridge (13-11-24), Bruneteau (3-19-22), Rhett Bly (8-13-21) and Duco (10-10-20). Justin Holl (3-16-19) is close … Matt White is the only player to suit up for the Fuel in all 41 games this season … The Fuel PK is 31 for its last 33. … Indy’s PP is now sixth in the ECHL (19.8), and the PK is up to 17th (82.2).

This week
Wednesday: vs. Gwinnett Gladiators (14-22-2), 7:05 p.m., Indiana Farmers Coliseum. TV: HTSN-6.2, Radio: WXNT-1430Season series: Fuel lead 1-0-0
Season meetings: 1/19 at GWT: Fuel 1-0This marks the teams’ second meeting in a nine-day span, and the final meeting between the two teams this season. They had a doozy of a game last Monday in Gwinnett, with the Fuel winning 1-0 on a third-period goal by Kyle Stroh, assisted by Garett Bembridge and Nick Bruneteau. Mac Carruth made 26 saves for his first Fuel shutout, and Kent Patterson stopped 21 of 22 Fuel shots in the Gwinnett net. … Since, the Gladiators have gone 2-1, beating a powerful Florida team twice (7-5 and 4-3 in OT) and then falling to Reading 6-3. Greg Carey had three goals and three assists, including a hat trick in Friday’s 7-5 win over Florida. Casey Pirro-Zabotel had five goals and three assists, including a three-assist game Friday, a hat trick in Saturday’s 4-3 OTW, and two goals in Sunday’s loss to Reading. Patterson and Adam Brown split the net duties in the three games. … Gwinnett was just 6-11 on the PK in those three games, including 2-6 against Reading, and 1-9 on the PP. … Pirro-Zabotel (18-27-45) is third in the ECHL in scoring and tied for third with seven PPGs. He is the only player with double-digit goals. Garry Nunn (7-24-31) and Brenden Walker (9-16-25) are the second and third-leading scorers. … Patterson is 2-1-0 with a 3.54 GAA with Gwinnett, and Brown is 5-7-0/3.34. … Gwinnett is 4-11-0 away from home … Gwinnett has the league’s seventh-best PP (19.5) and ranks 28th on the PK (77.4). … A few old friends are on the Gladiators’ roster – former Ice Will MacDonald and former Fuel Travis Ouellette. A third, former Ice D Tristin Llewellyn, was traded to Wheeling over the weekend. … Gwinnett is the ECHL affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes.

Friday: vs. Reading Royals (25-13-2), 7:35 p.m., Indiana Farmers Coliseum. TV: HTSN-6.2, Radio: WXNT-1430Season series: Reading leads 4-0-0
Previous meetings: 11/22 at REA: REA 4-3; 11/23 at REA: REA 2-1; 12/17 at Indy: REA 6-4; 1/3 at Indy: REA 3-1This is the fifth of eight meetings between the two teams this season. Reading has won the previous four, but all were close games, and all came before the Fuel’s significant roster overhaul that came in the first full week of January. … The teams meet again March 27, and the Fuel’s next trip to Reading will close out the season April 10-11. Reading is the fourth-most-frequently faced foe for the Fuel this year, and the most-frequent opponent outside the North Division. … Reading has won four straight games, including two last weekend against South Carolina (2-1) and Gwinnett (6-3). Maxim Lamarche had a goal and two assists and Adam Hughesman two goals to lead the Royals last weekend. Connor Knapp stopped 38 of 39 to beat South Carolina, and Ken Reiter stopped 30 of 33 to beat Gwinnett. … Pat Mullane (14-25-39) is the Royals’ top scorer and ranks 18th in the league in points. His five shorthanded points lead the league … Ryan Cruthers (9-21-30) has 12 PP assists, second in the ECHL … Mike Marcou (4-21-25) ranks 10th among ECHL defensemen in scoring and fifth in assists. He has 10 assists on the PP (2nd in the ECHL) and 12 points with the man advantage (3rd in the league) … Besides Mullane, Olivier Labelle (15-18-33), Adam Hughesman (14-19-33) and Cam Reid (12-20-32) are the Royals’ top scorers. … Knapp is the leading active goalie, at 12-7-0/3.02 … Reading is the ECHL’s second-least penalized team, taking just 10.88 PIM/game. The Royals play at Evansville on Wednesday before coming to Indy. … Reading ranks 12th in the ECHL on the PP (18.4) and 13th on the PK (82.6). … Reading’s +12 goal differential in the third period is 4th in the ECHL … Reading ranks 6th in the ECHL in scoring (3.48 goals/game) and 14th in GA (3.05) … Reading launches 33.8 shots/game, 2nd in the league. … Reading is in the first year of an affiliation with the nearby Philadelphia Flyers.

Saturday: vs. Elmira Jackals (21-16-5), 7:35 p.m., Indiana Farmers Coliseum. TV: HTSN-6.2; Radio: WXNT-1430Season series: First meetingThis is the first of four meetings between the Fuel and Jackals – they were initially scheduled to play last Friday night as part of a three-game road swing into the Midwest, but Elmira and Allen flipped opponents, and the Jackals faced Brampton for three straight contests. Elmira won two of the three – 3-1 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday, before falling 4-1 on Sunday. The weekend before, the Jackals went 1-1-1 against Reading. … Forward Allen McPherson led Jackals scorers with five assists in the three games last weekend. Defensemen Steven Shamanski and Zach Tolkinen each had two goals and an assist. Goaltenders Sam Marotta and Travis Fullerton split net duties, with Marotta stopping 38 of 43 shots in two games and Fullerton getting 33 of 35 in a win. Elmira’s PP was 4-11 over the weekend and the PK allowed four goals on 13 chances. … Shamanski leads Elmira in scoring from the blueline (11-17-28), while forward Matt Tassone has 24 points (14-10) in just 24 games. They are the lone double-figure goal scorers for the Jackals. Shamanski ranks 10th among rookies in points, and leads rookies and defensemen with five PPG and 13 power play points. He is also the fourth-highest-scoring defenseman in the ECHL, and ranks second among league D in goals scored … In net, Marotta is 8-11-1/2.56, while Fullerton is 13-5-4/2.58. They rank 10th and 12th in the ECHL in GAA … The Jackals are sixth in the ECHL in PIM (20.24/game). They are 10th on the PP (18.6) and 26th on the PK (79.2), but are third in the league with seven shorthanded goals, and are the league’s only team to not allow a shorthanded goal this season … Elmira outscores teams in the first and third, but a minus-16 goal differential in the second is second-worst in the ECHL … Elmira ranks 23rd in the league in goals scored (2.71) but is in the top 10, ranking ninth, in fewest goals allowed (2.83). … The Fuel and Jackals meet again Feb. 20-21 in Elmira … Elmira plays at Cincinnati Wednesday and at Fort Wayne Friday before coming to Indy. … Elmira is in the first year of an affiliation with the Buffalo Sabres.

Roster moves: The Fuel’s most significant roster move last week was placing forward Jonathan Parker on the 21-day IR. Jason Torf dressed as an emergency backup on Friday, but Shane Owen was ready to return Saturday night. Several players were moved on and off the reserve list to keep fresh players on the ice given the number of games in a short amount of time the Fuel were playing.

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